A Message - September 2015

Alhamdulillah, all praise is for the One in whose hands lies the honour and the One who accepts the actions of His slaves. He has been very kind to Nur ul Ilm Academy and allowed sixteen students to graduate this year, after completing four years of hard work and dedicated efforts.

September was the most overwhelming month for me. Lots of goodbyes to the graduating students, and at the same time, welcoming the new first year students. Moments of sadness and of happiness at the same time, and the heart floated in this storm of emotions. It reminds me of the beautiful words of our Prophet salallaho alaihe wasallam:

“What a beautiful state is that of a believer. When he gets something he shows gratefulness and that is good for him, and when he is deprived he shows patience and that is good for him.” (Sahih al-Muslim)

So, I convince my heart to be patient with the thought of separating with my old students who have acquired the nur (light) of this knowledge and now are ready to shine like stars in the sky - the stars who emit their lights to others, the stars who shine bright and show hope to the ones in darkness, the stars who guide the ones who lost their ways.

It is indeed a promise of Allah ta'ala that when He takes something away from us, He blesses us with a better compensation. I have seen this promise come true with my own eyes when Allah ta'ala took a batch of students and transformed them into beacons of light and returned them back to us in a better form. In addition to that, He also blessed us with a new batch of students with new hopes and dreams. So in the end, we are not only getting back our graduated batch serving the Academy, but we also get more students to walk on the same path of knowledge.

So, today I do not say farewell to the graduating students; rather, I say welcome to the new adventures in their lives, and I hope to see all of them being connected to Nur ul Ilm all their lives with loyalty, commitment and passion, as it is said:

I also welcome the first year students, and advise them to make full use of the time they will spend in the Academy, to connect themselves to the chain of scholarship and purification, to learn the outward and the inward dimensions of our deen (religion) and to absorb the nur of knowledge as these golden moments won’t come back.

We may stay or we may leave, but our goal to serve the beautiful deen of Allah ta'ala should remain forever.

One of the things which makes this Academy unique is the unconditional love and commitment the students show towards the work of deen, the Academy, and to each other.

I hope to see this group of students under the shade of the Throne of Allah ta'ala, as He promises it for those who love each other for His sake.

One of the things which increases this mutual love is the righteous deeds, as Allah ta'ala says in Qur’an: